19th century
(18th century - 19th century - 20th century - more centuries)
As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900.
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2 Significant people 3 Inventions, Discoveries, Introductions 4 Decades and Years |
Events
- The Little Ice Age ended.
- Napoleon , conquers much of Europe, is ultimately defeated 1815 ; some old European regimes are restored, others not.
- The Libertadores lead most of Latin America to independence.
- Industrial Revolution continues and spreads, developments include the Rail Transport, telegraph, and telephone.
- Discovery of the relationships between magnetism and electricity and light by Hans Christian Řrsted and James Clerk Maxwell. (See:electromagnetism)
- Mass migration from Europe to the United States.
- During the reign of Queen Victoria, the United Kingdom experiences the Victorian Age, which is the age in which the United Kingdom is the leading economic power in the world.
- Political revolution and constitutional reform across Europe severely limits powers of monarchs, advances democracy.
- The religious revival of the Second Great Awakening in the eastern United States and Canada gives rise to unique, American, Christian religions during the era of Restorationism
- Gold discovered in Australia and throughout the west of the United States, leading to huge increases in national wealth and encouraging mass migration of free settlers there.
- Slavery ended in British colonies and in America. See American Civil War. End of global slave trade enforced by British navy.
- Charles Darwin revolutionizes biology with his theories of evolution, 1858.
- Europeans conquer and colonize most of Africa and parts of Asia.
- Karl Marx writes the Communist Manifesto, encouraging workers to revolt against owners.
- Meiji Restoration in 1868 opens Japan to modern influences and returns the emperor to power.
- Germany and Italy are formed as nations.
- Railroads make fast mass transit available to many. Transcontinental railroads built, including the Panama Railway in 1855, the US Transcontinental Railroad finished in 1869 linking east to west in the United States, and the Canadian National Railway in 1885.
- The electric telegraph and undersea cables make instant global communication possible for the first time.
- Postage Stamps introduced in Great Britain and soon thereafter, in many other countries.
- Manufactured goods become widely available by mail order
Significant people
World leaders
- Alexander II of Russia, Tsar
- Empress Dowager Cixi of China
- Abraham Lincoln, US president
- Queen Victoria, monarch of the British Empire
- Napoleon Bonaparte, French emperor
- Napoleon III, French Emperor
Scientists
- Louis Pasteur, biologist
- Charles Darwin, biologist
- Thomas Alva Edison, inventor
- Gottlob Frege, mathematician, logician and philosopher
Artists
- Ludwig van Beethoven, composer
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge, poet, critic, thinker
- Charles Dickens, author
- Benjamin Disraeli, novelist and politician
- Antonio de La Gandara, painter
- Victor Hugo, author
- Edgar Allan Poe, author
- Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), author
Religious figures
- Joseph Smith, Jr, religious leader, founder of Mormonism
- Brigham Young, Morman religious leader
- Otto von Bismarck, German politician
- Simón Bolívar South American Liberator
- Giuseppe Garibaldi, unifier of Italy
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, author, thinker
- Karl Marx, political philosopher and economist
- William Morris, social reformer
- Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher
- José de San Martín, South American Liberator
- Dr. John Snow, the founder of epidemiology
Inventions, Discoveries, Introductions
- Automobile
- Electric light
- Motion pictures
- Phonograph
- Photography
- Repetition rifle
- Railroad Locomotive
- Steamship
- Telegraph
- Telephone
Decades and Years
Note: years before or after the 19th century are in italics.